Blanca Peak August 23rd-24th 2014
- Thread starter karas
- Start date
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Crisis averted today.
Cherokee was almost out on this run. Been having a heck of a time holding it in a straight line since holy cross, that trail was the first time I came out with the steering wheel anything but dead straight. Figured I tweaked something since the tires are starting to cup on the inside fronts. I guessed the tie rods were the culprits, since they are original 180K parts. Replaced them and took the truck in for alignment at Big O this morning, and they couldn't do the alignment because my ball joints were wrecked.
Just changed those January of 2013. 
Luckily, they were under autozone lifetime warranty. Got them swapped out in a marathon wrench session tonight, and hopefully Rodney can drop it off for me tomorrow for alignment. Maybe I'm still in this.
Cherokee was almost out on this run. Been having a heck of a time holding it in a straight line since holy cross, that trail was the first time I came out with the steering wheel anything but dead straight. Figured I tweaked something since the tires are starting to cup on the inside fronts. I guessed the tie rods were the culprits, since they are original 180K parts. Replaced them and took the truck in for alignment at Big O this morning, and they couldn't do the alignment because my ball joints were wrecked.
Just changed those January of 2013. Luckily, they were under autozone lifetime warranty. Got them swapped out in a marathon wrench session tonight, and hopefully Rodney can drop it off for me tomorrow for alignment. Maybe I'm still in this.
- Thread starter
- #83
I bet you will get it squared away and ready to go. After the meeting it sounds like Ryan with the 80 is going with Luke and his later group. I just got confirmation the Cherokee from Denver is out, but we picked up Laddy in another fj cruiser who has done this trail before in his Tacoma. There is a chance we may not stay at the top but there would be a lot of factors that play a role in that. Vic sorry I have not got back to you but I will have the family with as of now. She is having a hard time of making up her mind and I still am not a 100% sure exactly what she is doing. I am leaving after work tomorrow and it sounds like the rest of the fj cruisers will be doing the same. So that's 3 fj cruisers and 2 fj 40's, along with 2 4-wheelers in the morning group. Her is a pic of laddy's taco on Blanca. Looks like the ifs's will be doing a little 3 wheeling instead of 4 wheeling.
See you guys at 8:30 at the trail head
See you guys at 8:30 at the trail head
- Thread starter
- #87
Got done a little early and loaded up. Leaving in about 20 minutes. My cell is 719-649-7361 if anyone needs to get ahold of me.
Wish I were joining you guys for this one.....as a co-pilot. 
Have fun and be safe.
Have fun and be safe.
More to come I'm sure, lots of pics and video taken. Generic on purpose so the folks involved can share their tale. It was great to meet everyone and if you need anything on this side of the valley give a yell.
It was a bit wet in spots which made getting over jaws 2 a bit challenging, especially for the last few folks. It had gotten chewed up quite a bit even since last month. Everyone made it past Jaws 3 but one was unable to continue the rest of the way to Lake Como. Was very cool to see a pretty stock FJ80 make it all the way to the lake.
Unfortunately we were not able to make it to Blue Lakes on Saturday due to very slippery mud and rocks on the other side of Lake Como. The folks that stayed the night may have made a run on Sunday though.
Best of luck to the folks coming down the mountain today, safe travels and a big shout out to the part runner that went way above and beyond.
It was a bit wet in spots which made getting over jaws 2 a bit challenging, especially for the last few folks. It had gotten chewed up quite a bit even since last month. Everyone made it past Jaws 3 but one was unable to continue the rest of the way to Lake Como. Was very cool to see a pretty stock FJ80 make it all the way to the lake.
Unfortunately we were not able to make it to Blue Lakes on Saturday due to very slippery mud and rocks on the other side of Lake Como. The folks that stayed the night may have made a run on Sunday though.
Best of luck to the folks coming down the mountain today, safe travels and a big shout out to the part runner that went way above and beyond.
Thanks for the update. It sounds like you had a good time and some had a tough time with some sort of trail damage. I hope everyone had a good time and made it off the trail safe in the end. Can't wait to see some pictures/video!
In anticipation of the full report, I'll speculate that it was a U-joint.
- Thread starter
- #93
Full report to come but it was an fj cruiser rear trailing arms
Wow. I'm surprised you (I'm assuming those are from your FJC) were able to break 2 trailing arms in exactly the same manner like that. I will wait for the full story...
X2.
Just made it home. What a tough trail. Glad Patrick got his FJ out. Matt was the true MVP of the weekend hiking up the new rear links.
Trail damage: my electric fan controller, Mike's hydro steering, Justin's driveshaft, Justin's drag link, Ryan bashed his rear drivers door, Patrick's rear links (fatal) Victor's clutch hydraulics, Justin's drag link again, my fuel filler door and quarter panel (not horrible), Mike's 14 bolt bearings giving up..... Madness. Luckily we all got out
Trail damage: my electric fan controller, Mike's hydro steering, Justin's driveshaft, Justin's drag link, Ryan bashed his rear drivers door, Patrick's rear links (fatal) Victor's clutch hydraulics, Justin's drag link again, my fuel filler door and quarter panel (not horrible), Mike's 14 bolt bearings giving up..... Madness. Luckily we all got out
Just made it home. What a tough trail. Glad Patrick got his FJ out. Matt was the true MVP of the weekend hiking up the new rear links.
Trail damage: my electric fan controller, Mike's hydro steering, Justin's driveshaft, Justin's drag link, Ryan bashed his rear drivers door, Patrick's rear links (fatal) Victor's clutch hydraulics, Justin's drag link again, my fuel filler door and quarter panel (not horrible), Mike's 14 bolt bearings giving up..... Madness. Luckily we all got out
Sheez... sounds rough.
Just made it home. What a tough trail. Glad Patrick got his FJ out. Matt was the true MVP of the weekend hiking up the new rear links.
Trail damage: my electric fan controller, Mike's hydro steering, Justin's driveshaft, Justin's drag link, Ryan bashed his rear drivers door, Patrick's rear links (fatal) Victor's clutch hydraulics, Justin's drag link again, my fuel filler door and quarter panel (not horrible), Mike's 14 bolt bearings giving up..... Madness. Luckily we all got out
Makes me appreciate the birdwatching trail rides with Fitzgerald
- Thread starter
- #100
No the real props go to Rock Toy Industries in Denver for having a set of links we could borrow at no charge if we bring them back. They even set them outside there door for pick up. And huge props to Chris at Nisstech suspensions for picking up those parts and driving up to about jaws 1 at 11 at night to give them to us and also camp. Patrick and him go way back when he used to have his taco. He also offered to drive us out on the trail to Patricks rig but we didn't want anything more to go wrong. So we hiked it.
I came down hard on the rear bumper and popped some plastic out and messed up a back up sensor. Then I backed into a tree since the sensor was down but no damage to either the tree or the fj. Something is also not right with the power steering. That may just be a maintenance issue though.
I came down hard on the rear bumper and popped some plastic out and messed up a back up sensor. Then I backed into a tree since the sensor was down but no damage to either the tree or the fj. Something is also not right with the power steering. That may just be a maintenance issue though.